What Do Volunteers Do?

Counseling teenagers in Belize. Launching an Armenian computer center. Promoting HIV/AIDS awareness in Malawi. Teaching chemistry in a Ghanaian high school. Peace Corps Volunteers work in a wide variety of areas —and no two days are ever the same.

Think of the Peace Corps and you might imagine teaching in a one-room schoolhouse or farming in a remote area of the world. But while education and agriculture are still an important part of what the Peace Corps does, today's Volunteers are just as likely to be working on HIV/AIDS awareness, finding ways to provide fresh, clean water to a community, or working on small-business development.

Peace Corps Volunteers work in the following areas: education, youth outreach, and community development; business development; agriculture and environment; health and HIV/AIDS; and information technology. Within these areas, the specific duties and responsibilities of each Volunteer can vary widely. Ask any Peace Corps Volunteer and he or she will tell you that everybody has a unique experience.

In each area specific description, if you can offer a more detailed description than this standard description the Peace Corps offers, please feel free to include that so others can get a better idea of what certain work areas consist of.

Areas

Education, Youth Outreach, and Community Development
Education, youth outreach, and community development Volunteers introduce innovative teaching methodologies, encourage critical thinking in the classroom, and integrate issues like health education and environmental awareness into English, math, science, and other subjects.

Business Development
Business development Volunteers work in education, private businesses, public organizations, government offices, cooperatives, women's and youth groups, and more.

Environment
Environment Volunteers work on a wide variety of activities, from teaching environmental awareness to planting trees within a community.

Agriculture
Agriculture Volunteers work with small farmers to increase food production while promoting environmental conservation practices. In tropical regions some volunteers work supporting coffee and chocolate growers. Organic techniques that use cover crops, green fertilizers, organic fertilizers are also used.